by Eva Brandt
“I swear,” Bjorn replied without looking away from my face. “I would never hurt her. Prince Darius would never forgive me if I did.”
That, I believed. Bjorn’s sole motivation for doing this was Darius, and Lucienne was Darius’s soulmate. Bjorn had helped save her from Vandale once, and while it might have been just a natural consequence of him attempting to free Darius, it still counted.
Besides, time was ticking and we could not afford to be divided. Bjorn did indeed need me, and for good or ill, we had a common enemy now. We had to cooperate to make sure the cardinal bent to our will. If we didn’t, all hope was lost.
I didn’t reply through words, still too angry to vocalize my agreement. Instead, I lowered my head to his wrist and bit down. He didn’t flinch, even if I was less than gentle.
His hot blood filled my mouth, and I couldn’t help but let out a desperate groan. The flavor was subtly different from his usual taste, infused with magic I could easily recognize as Lucienne’s. I had never drunk her blood—that way lay madness—but this came dangerously close to that. If I focused on that power, I could almost imagine she was here, touching me like she had during the battle with the plagues, beautiful, honest, and so very fierce. And I could remember tasting her kiss in Declan’s mouth that last day we’d seen one another, before everything had gone to hell.
God, I wanted her. I wanted them both. There was a hole inside of me that I kept trying to ignore, a jagged wound that refused to close and that no amount of supernatural healing factor could ever take care of. Declan was still out there somewhere, in Mathias Vandale’s clutches. Lucienne was all alone, lost and at the mercy of the curse. And I was here, trapped, unable to reach them, unable to help them.
In my desperation, I started sucking on the wound a little harder, finding refuge in the intoxicating taste of the blood. For a few seconds, my world faded into a comfortable and lavish crimson haze. And then, a hand landed in my hair, pulling me away from my source of blood, and a familiar voice sliced through my feeding-induced trance. “All right, that’s enough. You can take more blood later if you need it.”
I should have thanked Bjorn for his help and offer, but gratitude couldn’t have been further from my mind. Taking a couple of deep breaths, I did my best to leash the rampaging beast still lurking inside me. It would have been easier had I not been plagued by a horrible question. What exactly had Bjorn done that had allowed him to connect to Lucienne on such a level? I feared I knew the answer. Lucienne wouldn’t have refused Bjorn’s advances if she had thought giving herself to him would help us, and he’d taken advantage of that.
“I hope you know that if I didn’t need you, I would rip you apart where you stand.”
Bjorn laughed in my face. “Good luck with that. I’m afraid it’s going to have to wait. Why don’t you channel your aggression into something more constructive, okay?”
“I’m trying, but it’s not that easy,” I snapped. “Do you expect me to just get over the fact that you used my soulmate?”
“Not really, no,” Bjorn replied with a shrug. “But if it helps, I didn’t sleep with her. We only went as far as we absolutely had to. And believe it or not, if there had been another way, I would have taken it. But sometimes, we have to make sacrifices to save and protect the things we care about.”
“I don’t think you’re in any position to say that. What sacrifice did you make?”
Bjorn narrowed his eyes at me, and for the first time, I remembered that despite how well Bjorn seemed to be doing on the surface, he wasn’t as unharmed by this episode as he was trying to appear. Incubi were among the most dangerous scavengers for a reason. The moment they fed on someone’s emotions, they became very unstable, ticking time bombs just as likely to lash out at their own allies as they were to attack foes. That had never affected the general standing of incubi among the scavenger community as a whole, but unlike them, I wasn’t a rampaging maniac yet. I still had some sanity and self-preservation left, and I could tell that Bjorn might be sliding into a rather unfortunate mental state as well.
A bright purple aura manifested around him, making eerie shadows dance across his face. “Perhaps we should shelf the rest of our discussion for a different time,” he replied. “I do believe the cardinal will be arriving soon.”
“Soon” turned out to be the understatement of the century. I had just enough time to maneuver around my chains and awkwardly wipe my face of the blood before the door burst open and Theodore Vaughn walked into the room.
“Inquisitor Lindberg, I understand that you’ve encountered some progress in dealing with the prisoner.”
“Indeed, Your Holiness,” Bjorn answered smoothly, “but I believe he still knows more than he’s saying.”
Cardinal Vaughn hummed and eyed me with piercing, cold eyes. A shiver coursed down my spine, and despite how much I hated Bjorn, I found myself grateful the incubus was there.
There was a reason why Cardinal Vaughn had been picked for his position and why, unlike most of us, he didn’t fear touching humans. He was among the few people I knew who did not have a soulmate. It was rare, but it did happen. Sometimes, souls just refused to be reborn and returned to what we generally called The Source. The causes of this process weren’t completely clear, but most scholars agreed that it happened to those who died in a very traumatic way. The people they left behind were always much worse off than regular Alarians.
Some never accepted it and kept trying to fix their problem, usually going to extreme lengths in their desperate attempt to find solutions. Our ancestor, Dahud, had been like that. Others, like Cardinal Vaughn, threw themselves into different tasks and duties. In his case, it was managing The Pure Inquisition and torturing scavengers.
I didn’t know to what extent he enjoyed the things he did, but it did not matter, because it was still incredibly dangerous.
“I’m sure we can find a way to solve our problem,” he said flatly.
He pressed his hand to my temple and looked straight into my eyes. I didn’t look away. Instead, I gathered every ounce of strength I’d earned from my feeding session and met him head-on.
Pain erupted through me as Cardinal Vaughn’s mental abilities clashed with my own. I gritted my teeth and clumsily shoved him away. I couldn’t hope to win our confrontation, but I didn’t need to.
Cardinal Vaughn frowned and leaned a little closer to me. “You are an interesting one, aren’t you? I wonder what Mathias Vandale placed in your head that you’re so desperate to protect.”
I spat in his face and braced myself for the attack I knew would follow. He didn’t even bother wiping his cheek from my bloodied saliva. Instead, he lunged at my mind once again, far more vicious than before, his concentration so perfect, fierce, and overwhelming I might have envied him a little had I not known it would be his undoing.
Mere seconds later, I was proven right. Cardinal Vaughn was so focused on cracking my defenses that when the bright purple light came at him from behind, he couldn’t hope to fight it. His hold on my mind faltered and he staggered away from my chair, unsteady on his feet. I took one look at his face and I knew we had won.
Three
Reverse
Bjorn
It took me less time than I expected to subdue Cardinal Vaughn. Despite how much mind magic I’d been throwing around in the past hour or so, Lucienne’s raw power far outclassed his. I had never even realized it until I’d absorbed her emotions and skills earlier, and it made me wonder if, perhaps, her abilities might be related to her having so many soulmates.
Of course, it helped that throughout the past week, I’d done my best to subtly wriggle my way into his mind and those of his inquisitors and a few other high-ranking Alarian nobles. It hadn’t been mind control, just mild suggestions that left them more susceptible to trusting me.
I had never told Malachai about it, but it was what had granted me access to him, to begin with.
Completely overpowering someone’s will was different, though, so
I took no chances. As soon as Cardinal Vaughn’s protests ceased, I knelt next to him and entered his mind space, focusing on building an unbreakable prison around his sense of self.
That was a little tougher than the first attack and I probably wouldn’t have managed it had Malachai not given me a hand.
Between the two of us—and Lucienne’s power—we succeeded in bending Cardinal Vaughn to our will.
“All right,” Malachai said once it was over. “What now?”
Since he was still strapped down to his seat and obviously in quite a lot of pain, I decided it was high time I let him out of his shackles. It would only be temporary, but he needed the reprieve. “Now, I have a few questions of my own for the cardinal,” I said as I undid Malachai’s bindings.
I hadn’t gotten the chance to ask anything until now. It would have been suspicious as fuck and broken the artificial and fragile trust I’d manufactured. The situation had drastically changed and I intended to use it to the full extent of my ability.
Turning toward the cardinal once again, I asked, “What are your intentions for Prince Darius?”
“Prince Darius’s fate has already been sealed by his own actions,” Cardinal Vaughn replied, not getting up from his spot on the floor. “Once he is no longer of use to The Pure Kingdom of Alaria, his life support enchantment will be removed and the healers will allow him to pass on.”
It took everything in my power to not end his miserable, pathetic life on the spot. I needed him if I wanted to secure at least some semblance of future for the people I cared about.
“Why did you not kill him until now?”
I had feared that they would, that they’d let him drift away before I could make my move. My sole hope had been that Darius would be able to survive on his own for a while longer.
“The kingdom needs an heir, and Her Royal Majesty, Queen Sarai can no longer provide one.”
I blinked in surprise. I had not expected that. The Alarisson line was notorious for not having a lot of children, so Darius being an only child until now had not been that unusual. That didn’t make the knowledge of his mother’s apparent infertility any less shocking. Such a thing was practically unheard of among Alarians.
Malachai seemed just as stunned as I was. Still rubbing his injured wrists, he gave the cardinal a suspicious look. “What? Why?”
“It is because of the Alarian Vow. Whenever a mother casts the spell on her child, the infant in question tries to resist it. Prince Darius was always very strong, and his attempt resulted in her being unable to sustain another pregnancy.”
“Good,” I said darkly.
I had always hated the Alarian Vow and that feeling had gotten even stronger now that it was killing Darius. From my point of view, a woman who could cast such a spell on her child didn’t deserve to be a mother.
Leaving aside my secret satisfaction at Sarai’s misfortune, though, I had to admit this made our situation more problematic than it had already been. An heir. How exactly did they intend to accomplish that?
A sudden suspicion niggled at the back of my mind. “Is that why Lucienne is here and why she’s being given so much leeway?”
I’d found that very strange, but had deemed it related to Lucienne’s battle with Vandale. Apparently, I’d been a little hasty when I’d waved it off.
Cardinal Vaughn confirmed my worst fears. “Yes. The healers have already reported that Lucienne Hastings would be the best option for the mother of our kingdom’s new heir.”
Never in my life had I wanted to murder someone more. The sole exception was perhaps Vandale, who had come so close to killing both Darius and Lucienne.
“I take it that is why the healers kept her under their care for so long. Did you intend to artificially inseminate her without even telling her about it?”
“We considered it, but when she awoke sooner than expected, the healers said it was no longer an option. If she didn’t agree to it, the pregnancy would have been endangered.”
Malachai snarled angrily, clenching his hands so tightly his claws dug into his palms, drawing blood. “You fucker. Have you gone completely insane? Did you really think she would just cooperate and be your broodmare?
“Yes, if it meant saving your life,” Cardinal Vaughn replied without missing a beat.
Malachai froze. It had obviously not occurred to him that the Alarians might have had ulterior motives when they had decided to not immediately execute him.
In hindsight, that explained the cardinal’s swift arrival today. He didn’t want Malachai to die and I’d told Chen to report that Malachai’s condition had taken a turn for the worse.
But even assuming the Alarians wanted to use Malachai against Lucienne, their whole plan made no sense whatsoever. As long as at least one of Lucienne’s soulmates was alive, she would always be at risk. So far, she hadn’t shown any real signs of getting sick, although I believed the earlier loss of control of her powers might be an incipient symptom. Besides, it had only been a little over a week since she had met Darius and the others. The disease tended to manifest after a month. Why were the Alarian royals ignoring that?
“But what about the curse?” I asked. “Would it not endanger the pregnancy?”
Cardinal Vaughn shook his head. “We have determined that this is a case of the Reverse Accursed Syndrome. Neither she nor any children she might have are at risk.”
Wait, what? “Not at risk?” I repeated in disbelief. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s a very rare anomaly. It only happens when the soulmate of an Accursed is more powerful than him or her. The curse always takes the person who is weaker. That is why all of Lucienne Hastings’ soulmates are missing, dying, or expected to die at one point in the near future.”
What the fuck? That wasn’t possible. I’d never heard about anything like that in all my years in the service of Alaria.
Prince Darius couldn’t have known either, because otherwise, he would have taken the possibility into consideration when he’d found out about Lucienne having more soulmates. He had been convinced that the Accursed Syndrome would soon claim her life if he didn’t find a permanent solution to their problem.
And now, it turned out that Lucienne had been safe all along and it was Darius and the others who were cursed.
I guessed that explained a lot about me and the way I’d been feeling lately. Shit.
“I admit I knew the Alarians were cold, but this is a new level of low. Why did you never mention this was a possibility?”
“It is forbidden and it would serve no purpose. The Soulmate Protection Dictate already covers only humans and the likelihood of a human ever being more powerful than an Accursed are slim to none. However, if we were to reveal the truth, we’d lose the support we receive from the international community, as it would be much tougher for people to believe the curse has no cure.”
Despite knowing that I shouldn’t get my hopes up, I couldn’t help but ask, “And does it? Does it have a cure?”
“Not that we know of. The Reverse Accursed Syndrome is just that, another version of the curse. It just affects the other person involved in the bond, but in every other way, it is the same. It makes no difference.”
It did. It made all the difference in the world because now I knew where I stood. I knew that Lucienne would not be in jeopardy if I touched her or dared to be in her presence.
I also knew that I needed to keep her and Darius apart. If she spent more time with him, the Syndrome might boost the effects of the Alarian Vow and claim his life. But on the other hand... On the other hand, she had saved his life during the confrontation with the plagues. She’d done something similar at the club when she had first met Vandale and shot him in an attempt to protect Declan.
“This isn’t possible,” Malachai murmured under his breath, obviously having the same realization I had. “If we’re cursed, why are we still alive?”
He probably meant the comment as a rhetorical question, but Cardinal Vaughn replied anywa
y. “We believe it must be due to the nature of your soul bond. The curse might have trouble claiming your lives because there’s more than one of you.”
Fuck. Okay, that made far more sense than I’d have liked to admit. If the curse depended on the individual levels of power of each soulmate, its side-effects might have gotten divided, which had allowed us to survive.
We might not be so lucky for much longer. What did this mean for us, for Darius?
I’d thought I had a plan, but this might throw a wrench in things.
No, I couldn’t think that way. I couldn’t give up and abandon my hopes of fighting the curse. I hadn’t given up when Lucienne had been the one to supposedly shoulder the burden of the curse. I wouldn’t give up now.
“All right, Cardinal Vaughn. Here is what we’re going to do. You will make sure no harm comes to Malachai in the future, while he is still in prison. When we finally get to trial, you will support our claim and make sure Malachai is absolved of his crimes.”
It wouldn’t be easy, but it was doable, especially if the Alarians wanted to dangle Malachai over Lucienne’s head. “You could perhaps say that he was under the influence of the syndrome when he attacked me and that upon further reflection, you decided he could still be of use. I’ll support your assessment.”
“I understand. It will be as you say.”
I certainly hoped so. I’d made sure he would be completely under my control, but the price had been steep. Remembering Lucienne’s shocked, pained look caused a new surge of guilt to rush over me. I hated having forced her to go through that. She had deserved so much better than to be used as a tool to gain more power, especially on what had been her first real sexual experience. If we managed to survive this whole mess, I’d make it up to her somehow.
“You will leave Lucienne alone,” I added, chastising myself for not saying it sooner. “You will not force her into anything she doesn’t want to do. After we leave, you will grant her permission to see Darius and Malachai whenever she pleases.” I’d speak to her and let her know about the Reverse Syndrome so that she’d know to be careful while visiting Darius. In the meantime, it was a good idea to make sure she had the option.